Playing into a strong wind in the first half, the home side broke the deadlock with a try from new signing Bevon Armitage, after good work by Matt Moore.

Wharfedale have always been a difficult side to beat and Saturday was no exception as the Yorkshire side sought to attain dominance up front.

On 16 minutes, the visiting forwards produced a series of driving mauls that forced some stout defending from the home side.

However, the pressure forced Esher to concede a succession of penalties, the fourth of which led to skipper Duncan Cormack being shown a yellow card and sent to the sin bin for 10 minutes.

From the ensuing penalty, Wharfedale scored a try through veteran open side flanker Hedley Verity that was converted by Neil Baggett.

With Esher still down to 14 men, the visitors pressed their advantage and put another try on the board with blindside flanker Gareth Lodge going over.

Esher were restored to their full complement just before the half hour mark and started to exert greater control over the play.

The home side put more points on the board in the 31st minute when Matt Moore opened his account for the season with a try that reduced Esher’s deficit to just two points.

With the wind in their favour in the second half, Esher took the lead just three minutes after the interval when debutant Richard Briggs broke clear to touch down.

Neil Hallett kicked his second conversion of the day to give Esher a 17-12 lead.

Using the wind to good effect, fly half Matt Leek pressed home Esher’s advantage with some well-placed kicks that put the Elmbridge side in good attacking positions time and again.

Hallett extended Esher’s lead further on 53 minutes with a penalty kick.

The visitors hit back on the hour mark when, from a penalty inside their own half, Wharfedale sliced through a static home defence to score a try.

Esher responded immediately with a try from Czech national team captain Ladislav Vondrasek that gave the home side some breathing space once again and Hallett’s successful conversion attempt made the score 27-17.

A further penalty by Hallett and a try by yet another new signing, former Saracen Emmanuel Amapakabo, secured the well-deserved victory for Esher.

Afterwards, first team manager Dave Page said he was pleased with the opening day result.

He said: “This was a good, positive start for Esher. A full, five points were obtained, which is one better than last season’s opener in which we only managed four points.

“The new players blended in well and, with the strength in depth we now have, we hope to be able to mount another challenge for promotion.”

However, he said Esher’s task this season would not be an easy one to fulfill.

“The league this season is much tougher and games will inevitably be tighter, so we must stick to the game plan and see how we fare,” he said.